Apparatus for precipitating injurious fumes from smelter-gases.



No. 746,257.y BATENTBD 1530.8, 1903.

R. BAG'GALEY. Y APPARATUS PoR PRBGIPITATING INJURIOUS PUMES PROM SMELTERGASBAS.;

APPLICATION yFILBEAUG. 25, 1903'.

4IO MODEL. 3 SHEETS-SHEET v2A j No. 746,257. y PATBNTED DEG. 8, 1903.4

A f R..BAGGALEY. APPARATUS FOR PREGIPITATING INJURIOUS FUMES PROM SMBLTER GASES..

APPLIOATION'IILED AUG. 25. 1903.

11o MODEL. Ya SHEETS-SHEETS.

wl'rn asses X9. ,5. my

linnen v STATES Patented December-8, 1903.

tries.,

' Arent APPARATUS FOR PREClPlTATlNG lNlURlOUS FUMES FROM SMELTER-GASES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of I .tters Patent No. 746,257, dated December 8, 1903. Application filed August 25,1903. SerialNa 170,726. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom it may concern.'

Be it known that l, RALPH .BAGGALEY, f Pittsburg, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania,

have invented a new and useful Apparatus for Precipitating injurious Fumes from Smelter- Gases, ol' which the following' is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying dra-wings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a Vertical section lof my apparatus. Fig. f2 is a plan view thereof, and Fig. 3

, is a cross-sectionon the line III lll of l.

My invention relates to-an apparatus whereby the obnoxious and injurious gases contained in the fumes from smelters may be precipitated with the greatesteconomy, utilizing as iilters and precipitating surfaces Vegetable growthof the most abundant and cheapest form at the point where the smelting plantmay be located.

. Byinterposingoneor more filtering-surfaces that are constantly kept moist in the line of a smelting-furnace subject to the draft of the ordinary staclnfor an induced draft the free sulfur, sulfur dioxid, a portion of the arsenic,

ltogether with the antimony, lead, 85e., will be Iprecipitated on such surfaces, and the fumes from the smelting process may thereafterbe allowed toi escape into the atmosphere Without injury to vegetation and without polluting the waters of the district.

In order to arrest and precipitate all of the arsenic contained in the fumes, it will be necessary to use an alkaline solution or a dilute solution of suliid of calciumfon at least one or more of the filtering-screens located in the Hue between the furnace and kthe stack or between the furnace and the induced draft'. It is preferably used on all of such screens, although a large proportion of the contained arsenic will be mechanically precipitated, to-

gether withv the sulfur, iron, antiniony, dac.,

by using water alone on the screens.

The substance utilized in practicing my m- 'vention will be regulated by conditions at 'lhus when a slnclter is lo.

various points. cated at or near the sea coast-for instance, on Puget Sound, where vast quantities of kel p or seaweed are availablethis material may be utilized to advantage, inasmuch as it is cheap, contains moisture within itself, and it is'strongly alkaline. At inland points bagasse, straw, hay, cornstalks, swamp-grasses, rushes, willows, messes, the bonghs of trees and shrubs, particularly of the Oca/fera family, as well as sonlevarieties of the cactus, maybe utilized. In the latter case, however,

it will be necessary to supply abundant water 0r alkaline solution into the hoppers with .the material, and in addition to this it will usually be necessary to supply water by means of pipes, jets, ctc., to the central and to the lower portions of such screens, inasmuch as vthe het gases will otherwise quickly-dryat least some portion ofthe screens, and thus render such dried portion ol each screen inoperative.

In an ordinary smelting-furnace having a' capacity of three hundred and sixty tous of ore in twenty-four hours and which orc may contain twenty per centuni of sulfur it will be neccssaryto precipitate from the fumesin each twenty-four hours at least from fifty to seventy-five tons of impurities, according` to the character of the ore under treatment. Over one-fifth` (J5) of these three hundred and sixty tons every day will be expelled in the forni of sublimated metals or metalloids. It is probable that such a furnace will sometimes thus throw olf in gases a totalV of one hundred tons in twentyfour hours, or approximately four tons per hour, or one ton in every fifteen minutes, or, say, one hundred pounds per minute. The necessity of screens yor precipitating-surfaces actuated solely by machinery will thus be apparent to those skilled in the art.

From one to five tons of straw or othersuch material will be ample to provide the requisite condensing-surfaces each twenty-four hours` according to the perceutagescf contained impurities in the ore und er treatment, and the economy of this process ,will therefore be apparent. It" is1 also nf'the utmost importance as a measure of economy that any The only manual labor required in operating my apparatus consists in delivering the Vegetable iber at the grou nd level into the conveyer that elevates and then delivers it to the hopper above the rollers, whence it passes downward inthe form of a wet mat into the mechanism that supports it es' 'l handling of the material be avoided and that such work be accomplished entirely, or nearly so, by machinery.

and that carries it slowly downward through the furnace-due in order that it may receive its proportion of the sublimated gases in its passage tothe conveyer below the luewhich delivers it on to the railroad-car or other suitable receptacle for removal.

ln the drawings, Qrepresents a ehamberinterpesed in the due leading from a coppersinelter and connected with a stack or exhauetefan for the punI Jse of causing the smeltengases to move freely therethrough. In this'chamber is a moving screen or series of screens, each ofvvhich ispreferal'nly constituted as follows: 3 3 are endless chains which extend vertically through the chamber and in 'opposite directions around the exterior there\ of and pass'around sprocket-wheels 4. -l 5 5, the sprocket-Wheels 4 al' being driven by suitable gear. The inner branches of the chainS Which pass through the furnace are adjacent and parallel and are fitted With horizontal cross-bars 6 6, between Which the vegetable ber is grasped and carried. They are best made of ehannel-bars, and at their ends travel in vertical groovesV 7 7 in the walls of the chambers, so that the entire Width of the chamber will be taken up with the screen, and gases cannot leak past its edges. At the points Where the cross-bars are iixed to the chain filler-blocks are preferably used in the channels and the chains are so placed on the sprocket-Wheels that the bars of each chain Will alternate in position.

Above the sprocket-Wheels 4 el are feedrollers 8 8, surmounted by a hopper 9, through which the screen material is delivered to thechains, and at the base of the chains there is a conveyer 10, Which may be a screw conveyor, by which the material is removed and vdelivered to cars.

At the place Where the chains pass through the iioor of 'the chamber 2 this 'iioor has a sloping or hopper-like construction, which catches and holds any loose vegetable fiber which may have been disengaged from the screen. As the screen, burdened with y impurities, passes out of this opening it carries with it this loose vegetable iiber to the conveyer. The chains thus constitute chainrachs, and when the material is delivered to them by the feed-rollers they carry it in the form of a mat or screen downwardly through the chamber and across the path of the gases, which deposit theirimpurities therein. Water is supplied to the mat from a pipe ll or other- Wise.

Without departing from the spirit of my invention the feeding and forming rollers above described may be dispensed with and the vegetable fiber mat be fed from the hop-v per directly into the chain-racks intended to compress, support, and propel it. l, however, prefer to use the upper forming-rollers as supplementary io the chain-racks, because by their use l am enabled to catch the loose vegetable ber as it is delivered by the conveyer elevator to the hopper and to form it by means maaar ofcompression, thus giving it a desirable, mat-like or screen-like form before it enters the chain-rack mechanism` Through the use ofthe rolls, conveyor, and hopper l am also enabled to spread the vegetable liber, so as to form a mat or screenof any desired width. In this way l am able to force the screen to engage the side walls firmly in its passage downward throughthe flue and th us to prevent the escape of gases past the sides er edges of the screen Without liirst precipitating their burden of contained metals ormetallods upon the screen in their fiight to the stack and through the latter to the atmosphere.

My apparatus furnishes a moistened vegetable fiber screen propelled by machinery through the iiue in order to arrest all ohnoxt ous and injurious substances contained in the gases and is so designed as to make it impossible for such materials to be precipitated-on any surface excepting'on the screens themselves that are especially' designed for the reception of and the cheap removal ol:l the same. The mechanism renders unnecessary lue-ivalls for guiding and containingl the screen, as the chains themselves hold and carry the screen material. The evils which would arise from the'deposit of incrustation on such Walls are thus avoided.

The invention enables the use ci chains oic cheap standard construction that are not readily affected by the furnace-fumes.

l have not shown in the drawings the many modifications that may be made in the au paratus to suit the various materials that may be available at various points. Vl'l/ithin the broad scope oi' my invention, all such are intended to be included, since What l claim is l. Apparatus forremoving impurities from gases, comprising a chamber, a moving racli in the chamber unconiined by walls at its Jill sides, and screen material carried bythe rac-h;

substantially as described.

` 2. Apparatus for removing impurities from gases, compri singa chamber, u traveling raclr composed of adjacent chains or ropes, and screen material carried thereby; substantially as described.

3. Apparatus for removing impurities from gases, comprisingachamber, a traveling raclr composed of adjacent chains or ropes having cross-bars, and screen material carried there? by; substantially as described.

fl. Apparatus for removingimpurities from gases, comprising a chamber, a traveling' rack composed of adjacent chains or ropes having` altornately-arranged cross-bars, and screen material cal red thereby; substantially as described.

5. Apparatus for removing impurities from gases, comprising a chamber, chains or ropes 'passing through and oppositely around the chamber, and screen material carried there by; substantially as described.

6. Apparatus for removing impurities from gases, comprising a chamber, a traveling IIE,

ato

n 746,257 n i 8 screenecarrier passing throughthe chamber, ried between. the chains or ropes; substan- 15' a hopper-shape opening at lthe exit of the cartially as described. rier, and .screen material carried-by the car- 9; Apparatus for removing impurities from rier; substantiallyas described. gases,l comprising achamber, atraveiing rack 5 Apparatus for removing impurities from unconned by walls at its sides,screen maten gases, comprising` achamber, atraveling rack rial carried by the rack, and means for supzo composed of adjacent chains or ropes, feedplying water to said material; substantially ing and forming rollers above the same, and as described. i screen material carried between the chains In testimony whereof I have hereunto set Io or ropes; substantially asdescribed. my hand. 8. Apparatus for removing impurities from RALPH BAGGALEY. gases, comprising a chamber, a traveling, rack Witnesses v composed of adjacent chains or ropes, a hop- WILLIAM M. KIRKPATRICK,

'per above the same, and screen material car- W. D. KYLE. 

